At least one Democratic member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee won’t give his stamp of approval to Secretary of State-designee Rex Tillerson after Wednesday’s hearing.
Oregon Sen. Jeff Merkley said Thursday that, after exploring more of Tillerson’s record as Exxon Mobil’s chief executive, he won’t support Tillerson’s confirmation. He said Tillerson doesn’t have the “moral clarity” needed to be the nation’s top diplomat.
“His record at Exxon Mobil is disturbing. Mr. Tillerson said ‘moral clarity’ is a key to U.S. foreign policy and I agree,” Merkley said. “But during Mr. Tillerson’s time in the senior management of ExxonMobil, the company engaged in a pattern of activities that undermine any claim he can make to moral clarity.”
Merkley pointed to Exxon Mobil’s lobbying on sanctions against Russia and its dealings with Iran and Equatorial Guinea under Tillerson’s watch as examples that he keeps his company’s best interests closer than his country’s interests.
“Exxon used a subsidiary to circumvent U.S. sanctions designed to pressure Iran to end its nuclear weapons program and state-sponsored terrorism,” Merkley said. “Exxon routed petroleum royalties into a bank account controlled personally by the corrupt dictator of Equatorial Guinea while the people of that nation languish in oppressive poverty.”
He added, “Exxon lobbied extensively against sanctions on Russia that were designed to punish Russia for the invasion of Ukraine. Mr. Tillerson refused to acknowledge his company’s efforts to thwart sanctions on Russia, even though that lobbying is heavily documented in the news accounts and official Exxon filings.”
Tillerson may have told Merkley some of what he wanted to hear, namely that climate change is a problem that the United States should help tackle, but there wasn’t enough to make the Democrat jump on the bandwagon.
